Pelosi pushes for Iraq War vote

President Bush has asked Congress for another $200 billion to continue funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nancy Pelosi has put together a counter offer. She intends to push a funding measure that allots $50 billion for the troops, with the caveat that troop withdrawals begin immediately and be completely withdrawn within a year. In addition, her bill would set in law the rules in the Army Field Manual, which do not allow torture, in an attempt to ban waterboarding. The legislation would also incorporate language from bills by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) that would grant additional training and rest time for troops between deployments. While discussing the bill and the war, Pelosi stated that there was "no light at the end of the tunnel".

Okay, what Pelosi said is simply dishonest. Just yesterday, the US Commander in Baghdad issued a statement that Al Qaeda has been routed from Baghdad, and that surge troops will be allowed to come home as planned. He also said, "there's just no question" that violence has declined since a spike in June. "Murder victims are down 80 percent from where they were at the peak," and attacks involving improvised bombs are down 70 percent, he said.

Fil attributed the decline to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, a cease-fire ordered by the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, disruption of financing for insurgents and, most significant, Iraqis' rejection of "the rule of the gun."

This is what Pelosi views as no light at the end of the tunnel. Could she be any more dishonest?

Let's get to the heart of the matter. Yes, Pelosi will argue that she is just trying to do what the voters elected her to do. She views 2006 as a mandate to end the war in Iraq. That's what she'll say, but don't believe it for a second.

The truth is, Pelosi is getting desperate. Her Congress is going down in flames. Approval numbers are dismal and now over 50% of Americans feel members of Congress don't deserve to be re-elected. She is in crisis mode, and she views Iraq as the potential final nail in her proverbial coffin. She knows what's going on in Iraq, which is exactly why she and her Dem buddies are taking drastic action to end the war now, before we achieve success. The Defeatocrats have invested much of their political future in US failure in Iraq, and they know that if we don't fail...then they're doomed. Oh, I know I'll catch some flak for this, but no one can put forth a reasonable counter-argument to my opinion. The US Commander in Baghdad is talking about plenty of light at the end of the tunnel, and Pelosi wants to pull the plug immediately. Is there another explanation for this?

Victory in Iraq means defeat of fascism and the rise of a Muslim democracy in a part of the world where it is desperately needed. But, more importantly to those in Washington, it means disaster for the Democrats. Don't feel sorry for Pelosi. She missed her chance. The new Congress took power and demanded a new direction in Iraq on behalf of their constituents. And Bush complied. He fired Rumsfeld and implemented a troop surge. The Dems could have accepted that as the new direction. They could have gone to their voters with the accomplishment of implementing change in Iraq as they were 'elected to do'. And, right now, they could be taking credit for the success that we're seeing over there. But, for some reason, they didn't do it. Call it poor foresight. Call it blind hatred for Bush. Call lack of faith in the military. Who knows? But, the fact is, the Dems blew it.

So as the headlines slowly turn more favorable, Pelosi knows she must end this war now. She must end this war before America wins it - which would be an absolute worst case scenario for her party.